Tag: what’s in my bag

As someone who travels overseas at least once a year, I have to be very strict about what I bring while bringing all the camera gear I need to keep making 4K videos for my YouTube channel and timelapses.

In this “What’s In My Bag” series, we take a quick look at everything that’s in my main camera bag and explanation of why I brought them with me to Thailand.

My Bag

My main 4K camera setup for YouTube

Sony A6300 – First, for 4K video production, I brought my new Sony A6300 mirrorless camera, which is an excellent 4K camera that can do 4K and 1080P 120FPS. This is touted by most YouTubers these days as the best 4K camera under $1000 and I have to agree.

Speedbooster Ultra for Sony E-Mount – This allows me to re-use my existing Canon lenses and also brings down the aperture by one full stop, essentially converting the A6300 into a full-frame camera.

Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 Lens Canon Mount – This is my favorite lens of them all, with a nice zoom range from 18 to 35mm, it also offers constant aperture of F1.8, which works out great for most situations, especially in low-light situations along with nice bokeh. Couple this lens with the Speedbooster and you get near F1.4.

Ninja Flame – Now, to enhance my video editing capabilities, I have also brought my new Ninja Flame, which allows me to record in ProRes422 straight to SSDs. A lot of people buy the Ninja Flame for advanced color correction but I found that it is most useful for giving me the least uncompressed video files for faster editing and rendering. In other words, with the Ninja Flame, you can edit your videos faster since your computer doesn’t have to uncompress data like normal H.264 format. And since A6300 has a flip LCD that only goes down and up, Ninja Flame works great as full HD monitoring camera also, which I really love. Now, this setup is rather bulky and I would not ever want to carry it around with me, this is really for my main stationary setup in Thailand.

Sennheiser EW112P Wireless Microphone – I’ve used this microphone for over 3 years now and this is one of the best, portable and wireless microphones great for getting perfect sound out of noisy environments.

My 4K Vlogging Setup For Travel

Panasonic GH4 – For vlogging and making 4K videos on the go, I cannot really use my Sony A6300 as it has no flip-out camera if you wanted to see yourself while filming yourself. I used to use the Sony RX100-M4 for vlogging until it broke after a small fall and have switched to my Panansonic GH4, which is a great sturdy camera with excellent 4K abilities.

Speedbooster for GH4 – I use a Speedbooster on my GH4 also which allows me to use Canon lenses, brings aperture down by 1-stop, and also keeps auto-focus and aperture control.

Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 – I love using this wide-angle Tokina lens as you get super-wide selfies along with constant aperture of F2.8. You won’t find a faster lens for this much wide-angle lens and works great for vlogging.

Rode VideoMic Pro – This is a portable microphone that will make your audio 10 times better than using the onboard mic. Not the best but it does the job for vlogging.

Joby GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead – An awesome portable tripod that will also balance your camera acting as somewhat camera stabilizer. I love this tripod since it lets me hang my camera on my shoulder while traveling, allowing me to carry one more camera on the airplane without taking up more space in your camera bag. I ran out of space for my vlogging camera in my bag so with this, I am easily able to carry it with me while traveling. Most high-profile vloggers like Casey Neistat swear by this so you will definitely want one for vlogging on the go.

My 4K Timelapse Setup

Canon 6D – Canon 6D is a full-frame camera capable of great timelapse shots. It does not have 4K video recording but for timelapses, you can do 4K easily since you use the photos not the videos. The 6D has equal of better low-light performance than its sibling Canon 5D Mark III, which costs 3 times more. For doing timelapses, I simply load on Magic Lantern software, which is still light years ahead of Sony or Panasonic’s built-in timelapse features.

Sigma 24mm F1.4 – I bought this ultra-fast Sigma 24mm F1.4 lens which works great for sharp photos with lots of Bokeh on my Canon 6D. I can also use this lens with my Sony A6300 and Panasonic GH4.

Canon 50mm F1.8 – This $100 lens is absolute must-have for all Canon cameras and Canon-compatible mounts. I don’t use it for video much but I do use it all the time for timelapses at night.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Variable ND Filters 72mm & 77mm – ND filters are basically sunglasses for your lenses and you will need them when making videos in bright sunlight if you want to get nice bokeh while keeping your aperture at the lowest F stop possible. My main lens Sigma 18-35mm, 24mm, and Tokina 11-16mm use these ND filters so I can be flexible when shooting in bright outdoors.

SmallRig Camera Cage – If you want to attach external monitors and microphones, you will definitely want to get a cage. I use a cage mainly to protect the HDMI output when using an external monitor as they can get damaged easily and very expensive to fix. It also protects your camera well so definitely recommended. This one also works well with many different brands of cameras.

Samsung T3 Portable SSD – This is a great portable SSD that is fast, no external power required and also fast read/write speeds through one single USB 3.0 port. I have the older T1 but Samsung has new T3 out now.

4K Editing Laptop

If you want to edit 4K videos on the go, you will need the latest Intel i7 processor-equipped laptop to efficiently edit and render your videos.

MSI Ghost GS60 Pro 4K – I love this 4K laptop. Not only does it have 4K screen but plenty of CPU/GPU power to handle all of your 4K video editing needs. Best of all, this is the lightest/thinnest 4K laptop on the market today or at least when I bought it last year. The new ones have even better processors and graphic cards and I think this is the best bang for your buck for editing 4K videos on the go. Also weighs less than 4 pounds, making it very portable.

Microsoft Sculpt Mouse – For editing videos, it’s good to have a mouse that has the ability to scroll let and right. Any mouse will do but I really like Microsoft mouses.

Tripods

These are tripods I brought with me in my other big bag along with my clothes.

I also did bring my camera slider for sliding timelapse shots. For that I use my Edelkrone Slider along with Action Unit.

Overall, I did probably bring too much stuff with me but I always want to be ready for action and make the best 4K videos and timelapses even when I am on vacation. If you have any question about my travel 4K camera gear, I’d be happy to answer them. Fastest way to get a response from me is just tweet me @zedomax.

CES 2016 was a lot of fun and I got to bring my livestream rig which I got a ton of complements on. The only thing bad about livestreaming was that setting up took forever and carrying it around the show floor was a drag. Plus, it was hard for me to actually enjoy the show and doing things live can become hetic, stressful.

So for MWC 2016, I will be bringing a different rig so I can make some nice cinematic 4K videos, perhaps enjoy myself more. And I know some of you wanted a video of my new rig for MWC 2016, so here’s what I bringing:

First, I will be bringing my sturdiest tripod, the Manfrotto 055. It’s heavy tripod but it is super stable and I will be able to get all my shots as steady as I can.

That’s my basic setup but if I want to do some sliding shots, I can go head quick release my camera, mount my Edelkrone motorized slider then snap my camera back in. I am using a bunch of quick release plates so I can do this quickly on the go at MWC 2016.

I love my Edelkrone slider with action module which is an automated motor unit that you can use for sliding your camera easily. You can also do some nice target sliding while it’s moving laterally.

Now, I’ve also hacked up my own 15mm rod rig that allows me to position the camera to the side. What this allows me to do is get a shot that’s vertically above my subject. Using this, I can do some over-the-head shots.

When I am done shooting all my slide shots, I can go ahead and put everything back into my bag then I can quick reattach the camera, fluid head, and tripod. What I realized through my recent trip at CES is that you want to keep your camera and tripod out of the bag as they weigh you down the most. Instead, if you carry your tripod and camera with you, you can easily balance your tripod on your shoulder, which feels a lot lighter than having more things in your bag plus you can set the tripod down on the ground when resting.

That’s all I am carry for MWC 2016 so hopefully I will be able to make you guys some nice cinematic 4K videos of Galaxy S7, LG G5, HTC One M10, and much more. Other than that, I am bringing my MSI Ghost GS60 4K laptop for 4K editing and Zoom H4N for voice overs for the video.